Okay so Arsenal losing to Everton was definitely not in the script, especially going on the recent form of the two respective teams, but I think we have to take a step back from the disappointment of a fan and look at it objectively. The Toffees played very well and looked like they were back to the team that took 13 points from the first 15.
Ronald Koeman is a very good manager and Goodison Park will be a hard place for anyone to go, as proven by their unbeaten record there so far this season. The Gunners also played fairly well and on another day would have won and would have beaten most others so that is one reason for me to say that we are still right in there as one of the favourites for the title.
The fact that we have already shown great character and resilience twice, after the poor start and then after the usual November hiccup, to suggest that this loss will not be the start of a downward spiral. I don’t think that our rivals have proved the same, with Man City and Liverpool both seemingly affected by a bad result.
The real key is Chelsea though, as the pace setters are looking very strong, but every team will have a bad run and we have yet to see how they react. I really believe that their current form will suffer a dip and I also think that Arsenal will be close to them when it happens.
Do you guys agree that this defeat should not unduly impact our position as title contenders?
Bob.
Chelsea has some relatively easy fixtures coming up and I can’t see them dropping any points with their recent form. Arsenal, Liverpool and City have 2 things in common, scoring a lot of goals and also giving up a lot of goals. Chelsea on the other hand score goals and keep clean sheets and that’s what make them different. I can’t remember the last time Arsenal kept a clean sheet.
Sczezesny sharing the golden glove with Cech, nuff said said, clean sheets doesn’t matter as long as you win. As my name suggest, a lot of our player was as such, we’re was ozil, theo.
I’m invisible
If we lose at CIty it’s almost over. Palace can trouble Chelsea at home though, they’ve been conceding and scoring lots lately.
I’ve written Arsenal out after my test of three games anyway Tottenham, Manu and PSG. We didn’t show quality in any.
Xhaka sure knows how to ping the ball sweetly. He can still improve, but I enjoyed watching him today.
sell ozil make sanchez play in the number ten position by two quality winger who can take defender on the outside on deliver quality pin point crosses inside the box there are out there find them.the blind can see our offence have no detection no plan no way of playing that is why when giroud come into the game no crosses were deliver inside the box
still shocked
Ox was the flop of the match.
I don’t understand why history always repeats with Arsenal,when you think we are finally going on a good run,then suddenly we succumb to pressure which initially starts with injuries,then we lose the will to fight in important matches proving some pundits who hates Arsenal right,yet the same thing happens again. The way we totally dropped after that first goal was so shocking and Wenger just sat down there looking like a spectator,I will keep saying it,it is more effective to shout to your players at the touch line than just sitting down pretending,when you shout,you let them know that they are not performing or doing what’s needed from them,we gave the ball away countless times,we should thank koscienly and le coq,it could have 3-1 or 4-1
You are right. Same old, same old. Pundits have been saying it for years, but it is not nice to admit; Arsenal are easy to play against. We lost to a team, which was better organized and more motivated. The 2 problems which we have had for years. This year it has looked a little better, but the fact is, our midfielders are not organised defensively, especially on the wings. Walcott has been better this year, but yesterday he was his old self. He was totally out of position for Evertons first goal. Too far from his opponent, couldn’t make it up, and allowed him too much time to pick a perfect cross. Before that Everton had actually already had 10-12 other crosses, mainly from the other side, where the OX was totally useless. The crosses had been really poor, but they should never have been allowed to have so many, because sooner or later, they would punish us. Time after time w find ourselves looking good for a period of time, but then we loose games, we shouldn’t because of bad motivation and bad organistion. OK, we are still in with a chance, but I think our main issues need to be addressed.
Bob I am happy for your optimism.
For me, nothing has changed and we are still competing for a top 3 or 4 spot and doing better than I expected. At the same time there is no chance we will win anything either.
We are mentally weak. We don’t have the ability to play like winners for more than a few games and then we succumb to a number of ailments, arrogance – as Wenger said last night we lacked urgency, this is arrogant, fear – we can’t deal with pressure too well, lack of form.
Most champions show up for 90 minutes most games. Even when they don’t play well they fight and give everything for 90 minutes. We simply do not have that mentality.
You get a bit physical with Ozil and he is out of the game, we don’t have a real midfield enforcer who would go after someone for kicking our best players. As good as Coq is he is not an enforcer who will get in someones face and intimidate them.
We are still looking good for top 4 finish although lot’s can happen, we don’t look like champions consistently enough. What’s our longest winning streak? Can’t be much more than 3 games.
Worried about city game now, not that I wasn’t already worried about these fixtures. We need to see Arsenal bounce right back because if che get over a six point lead, well then the second part of season could be just too much, we’d have to win all our top fixtures second time of asking, unless che collapsed, which doesn’t seem likely without a raft of injuries.
I feel Wenger should have a gameplan when coming up against Koeman. Koeman has certain tactics he uses when coming up against teams who like to play it on the ground, and I think Arsene should come up with something to stop them doing what they want to do.
Alexis Sanchez, he’s just so important to our hopes, but we can’t even rest him because he doesn’t respond well to coming off early or being left out. I don’t know if that is the only reason why we rarely rest him as Arsene probably wants him out there anyway.
Stating the obvious here, but the City game would not crucial if we had done our job against Everton. It was our arrogance, taking the foot of the gas after we scored, that allowed Everton back in.
You are right though, for those who actually believed we could compete for the PL, lose to City and we could find ourselves 9 points out of first. Surely that should be enough for people to get back to reality and start focusing on the more important fight for a top 4 place.